We’ve had our eye on the Marine Corps KC-130J for a while now, especially since we first heard the Marines wanted to add a “strap-down” gunship kit to the aircraft as a sort of poor man’s AC-130 gunship. The AC-130 is just the ticket for supporting light infantry on the ground, but at around $200 million a pop, the Marines just can’t really afford any (especially if they plan of buying $150mm F-35B Joint PowerPoint Fighters!). So the Marines are looking for a “gunship-lite” to supplement their existing Close Air Support and ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) assets. The Air Force was looking at using a variant of the C-27J as a cheaper complement to the AC-130. The Marines took a slightly different route.

The Marines decided to build a kit that could be installed on any of their growing fleet of KC-130Js. Under a program called “Harvest Hawk” they’ve added a sensor suite, Hellfire missiles, and the little known Griffen small missile.

And now it appears the Harvest Hawk has drawn its first blood:

Since 2003, KC-130Js have played a vital role in transporting coalition forces and cargo throughout Helmand and Nimroz provinces; however, the latest KC-130 to enter the area is providing a new kind of support.

The KC-130J “Harvest Hawk” of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), has all the same capabilities of a KC-130J “Hercules,” but the Harvest Hawk carries four Hellfire and 10 Griffen GPS guided missiles and houses an infrared and television camera.

Its mission is to provide close air support, conduct intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance missions and find improvised explosive devices.

“This aircraft is not traditional – yet,” said Maj. Marc Blankenbicker, a fire control officer for the Harvest Hawk.

There is only one Harvest Hawk operating in Afghanistan, and it is used to fill the gaps where coverage from other aircraft isn’t available; it operates in a role similar to that of an F/A-18, explained Blankenbicker, who is originally from Avon, Conn.

Though the Harvest Hawk only began its first deployment in October, it has already had its first weapons engagement Nov. 4.

“We supported [3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment] in Sangin when they were in a fire fight,” said Blankenbicker. “We shot one Hellfire missile, and the battle damage assessment was five enemy [killed in action].”

When I raised the possibility of using platforms such as the C-130, P-3 and S-3 as long loiter CAS and ISR platforms with an acquaintance in the strike fighter community, he was aghast. The thought that non-fighter types might be capable of performing the mission was incomprehensible to him.

But as Eric L. Palmer (where I found this story) points out elsewhere on his blog, the key link in the chain that from platform to target is the Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC- what we used to call a forward air controller). He’s the guy that is mostly in control of the attack. He’s the guy that makes the real decisions in the shooting chain.

Here’s some history of the development of the Harvest Hawk program. And I think there’s a lesson here about letting the Marines develop weapon systems. They seem to do well when they operate on a shoestring to achieve a very narrow objective, but when given sway over a program such as JSF, they just can’t achieve a reasonable objective on a reasonable timeline or budget.

I’ve never dealt with the Army’s in house portal to its intranet, AKO (Army Knowledge Online). They rolled that out a few years after I left. But I’ve dealt with similar interfaces I the business world. Some were good, some were bad. But I’m not at all surprised that the average user finds the Army version a clumsy interface.

Their frustration was evident in more than 70 e-mails from Army active-duty, civilian and retired users.

The most common complaints:

• AKO is frustratingly slow.

• It has a cluttered interface.

• Its security features are too cumbersome.

• Its search engine is useless.

For many, that adds up to a decision to avoid AKO whenever possible.

Launched in 2001, AKO is the secure gateway for soldiers to access e-mail, file storage, instant messaging and other collaboration tools. It boasts more than 2.33 million unclassified users and more than 123,000 classified users, including active duty, National Guard, Reserve, civilians, contractors, family members and retirees, as well as 350,000 users through the Defense Department’s Defense Knowledge Online, which it hosts.

The system has an annual budget of $67 million and is operated by a team of some 20,000 employees — larger than an Army division.

What do you think? I know a lot of you readers use AKO. And you Navy types feel free to discuss the wonder of NKO.